Artist of the Week: Father Gabriel Rochelle embraces a calligraphy renaissance

Father Gabriel Rochelle embraces a calligraphy renaissance

Father Gabriel Rochelle enjoys historical research relating to calligraphy projects and finding inspirational and sometimes amusing quotes. (Photos by Steve MacIntyre — For the Sun-News)

LAS CRUCES >> Father Gabriel Rochelle has been illuminating lives as a man of the cloth for many decades. He's also been illuminating paper, vellum, wood and even stone, as a man of letters.

Father Gabriel, who is pastor of St. Anthony of the Desert Orthodox Mission in Las Cruces, recently used a church table to spread out an array of his work, some of it dating back to the 1970s.

His interest in the unique art form of calligraphy dates back even further.

"I did some work in lettering, drafting and art in high school. I thought then that I would be an architect," he said, surveying a creative collection that includes illuminated works inspired by masterpieces that date back to 950 A.D., as well as iconography (religious paintings) and more contemporary works.

"There's rhythm, a zone you get into, a mediative or contemplative mode," said Father Gabriel Rochelle, here demonstrating tools and styles of lettering.

"During the 1970s, there was a calligraphy renaissance in the United States. The number of people who were willing to share what they knew made it an opulent period for learning," he said. "I was fortunate to be able to study various types of calligraphy, illumination, and stone carving with some of the greats, like Paul Standard, Mark Droggin, Lloyd Reynolds, Paul Freeman, Arnold Bank, Ieuan Rees, Arthur Baker, Michael Gullick, Eleanor Winters and John Stevens. I took a five-week course with Donald Jackson, scribe to the Queen of England. In the 1980s, I studied with John Weber, Robert Boyajian, Peter Fraterdeus, James Hayes, Timothy Botts, Jean Larcher and Philip Bouwsma and worked in signage with Martin Paul Czepiel."

Advertisement

Eventually, the Pennsylvania native said, he began sharing what he's learned at classes at universities and crafts centers.

"I taught courses in italic handwriting. 'The Art of the Letter,' roundhand, foundational hand, Roman and Celtic calligraphy, and did some lectures on historic calligraphy," he said.

He combined two passions in a course on "Calligraphy and Spirituality" at Yale Divinity School.

Father Gabriel Rochelle surveys calligraphed works and iconography he's created, beginning in the 1970s, when he started studies with masters throughout the United States.

"I was able to learn more and be a consultant about the history of calligraphy and lettering when I was in Israel, working with the Shalom Hartman Institute," he said.

His areas of study have ranged "from Roman lettering from about 100 B.C., to Celtic 5th to 9th century script, through the Middle Ages when people began to turn handwriting into cursive script, and on to times when writing developed regional, nationalistic styles."

As he moved around the United States, he became involved in calligraphy groups, serving as president of the New Haven Calligraphers' Guild in Connecticut, on the board of the Society of Scribes in New York City, and in Illinois, as president and board member of the Chicago Calligraphy Collective. He also became a member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and the Society for Italic Handwriting.

"I'm a little rusty," he said, as he took out a set of pens and began work on an alphabet, demonstrating various forms with an ease and grace that revealed resilient muscle memory and long practice.

"It sounds goofy, but there's always a tactile sensation and kinesthetic rhythms involved when you're getting it right. Every script has its own rhythm. For me, it's the process more than the product that's important. There is a zone you get into, a meditative or contemplative mode," he said.

"I've tried to work with good materials: vellum, calfskin, handmade paper and pens, quills, traditional inks and egg tempera colors and embellishments of real gold," he said, stressing that with proper media and care, contemporary calligraphed creations, like the works that inspired them, should last for centuries.

Occasionally he dabbles in modern media.

"These icons are painted with acrylics, but I prepared the boards they are on, the right way, with layers and layers of gauze," he explained.

Rochelle, the father of five children, moved to Las Cruces with his wife in 2007. He has taught courses on world religion and the history of the Christian Church at New Mexico State University and is currently teaching online religious courses. He became interested in baking and wrote a book, "Bread for the Wilderness." He also writes a religion column for the Las Cruces Sun-News.

His pastoral duties and writing projects haven't left much time to pursue his interests in calligraphy, he said, but he is interested in learning more about regional calligraphy organizations and becoming more involved himself in exhibits and perhaps teaching calligraphy classes here in the future.

"We'll have to have him come speak to us," said artist Amy Jones with the Southwest Calligraphy Guild, after checking out images of Rochelle's work. She said new members and those interested in calligraphy are welcome to attend gatherings of the guild, which meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. the second Monday of each month at Peace Lutheran Church , 1701 Missouri Ave.

To hear Rochelle's podcasts, visit ancientfaith.com and click on Musings from the High Desert. Read his columns the first and third Friday of each month in the Sun-News SunLife section. For more about his work and to access his blogs and other writings, visit the St. Anthony of the Desert Orthodox Mission website at stanthonylc.org.